Final mixes were just printed and mastering goes down this weekend. I guess what I’m trying to say is we are close to having a new EP for you!!

Wait until you hear it.

We are thrilled and so proud of what we have accomplished. New, fresh arrangements of classic songs; some that are huge, some that hardly saw the light of day, all are classic! Read the press release from the link below!

We have enjoyed creating this art for you. I guess one could say the project started long ago when Bobby and I were figuring out covers to work into our repertoire as we toured the country incessantly in 2009. Over the course of 2 or 3 years, we began to wonder what effect releasing our own versions of these songs would have on our career as well as the “career’s” of these songs. Why wouldn’t Benyaro want to join forces with some of the greatest writers and performers of popular music? Is it because of licensing?

As we thought about this situation through and through, we slowly began to realize there is very little downside to our idea. We just needed to do some clerical work to obtain licenses and pay modest fees for the work, which we are happy to do since we would expect the same once our original music becomes popular.

It was difficult to narrow down and ultimately choose the songs that would make up The Cover EP, but unknown forces help us arrive to the 5 songs (6 on the vinyl edition) by fall of 2011.

Next we had to decide where and with whom we would record. This decision was not easy, nor is it ever. Benyaro was recorded and mixed in New York, NY, Good Day Better was recorded in Charlottesville, VA and New York, NY and mixed in NY…but we were still looking for a more comfortable situation to record in after these projects. We landed in my backyard: Jackson Hole, WY during the off-season (between ski season and summer).

Bobby and I gathered there in late April to work out the arrangements. We tried many things that ultimately wouldn’t fly, but through that process we achieved the arrangements you’ll hear soon, and we are very proud of.

Sonny Ratcliff, a talented and charismatic musician, engineer, and producer in his own right out of Brooklyn, NY joined us May 5 to engineer us and lend his thoughts on the arrangements. We tracked (recorded) for 6 straight days and ouila! We had the bones for the beautiful monster we were creating down and saved and ready to be mixed. –>

Roughly 2,160 miles later, by car, I arrived in New York City on June 1 to mix the EP with Sonny at Rola Pola Studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Tomorrow, June 16, we will be finished mixing.

While in the area the talented Anneke Shoneveld shot 600+ photos of Bobby and me in the West Village as most albums or EPs are accompanied by nonother than…album art!

We are still working on it!

But fear not…the process is drawing to a close and the EP will hit the AAA radio waves this July just in time for our EP Release Summer Tour 2012, and the album will be available at shows July 24, 2012. Stay tuned for an online release.

**Benyaro will print a limited # of The Cover EPs on CD and vinyl, ie, records. Let’s say 500 of each. They will last until we sell them out, becoming only available online for download!**

Benyaro’s EP Release Summer Tour 2012 will begin in Boise, ID on July 24 and take us through the Rocky Mountains, to San Francisco, up the coast to Washington and back through the Rockies. We’ll be supporting some incredible artists; Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, Langhorne Slim & The Law, Jessica Lea Mayfield and Robert Randolph & The Family Band. We hope to see you and your friends at the shows, and please pick up a copy of The Cover EP.